Good. Good for you all - hopefully other countries get to experience something similar soon.

What a mindfuck. At one point you/I/we are blindly making assumptions about what the human on the other side of the counter is thinking - or being egotistical enough to believe the employee’s transaction with me (and the potential $1) was of any significance to them.

My guess is that the decision makers/consultants at that business are aware of these potential reactions - if they’re any good at being greedy, they’ve dug far deeper. They just play the game of guilt to get the patron to subsidize employee wages.

Because if the tips aren’t enough to make ends meet for the employee, it’s the customer’s fault.

Sometimes I disengage from my personal viewpoint and marvel at the complexity of it all. Using humanity against itself for personal profit without incurring a proportional amount of public disdain. Then I resume being disgusted.

We have sooooo much potential as a community. I would give literally anything (of myself - not of the ones I care about) for a star trek future. But I also like Dune, The Expanse, Foundation…

Final thought - I’m rewatching 2000’s battlestar atm and it made me wonder:

If humanity has an AI war and we won - how could we ever prevent someone/some thing creating a new homegrown AI later? We almost have to merge at some level?

Anyways, sorry if you read this. Be well

Spicy!!! I don’t really enjoy travel or flying in the first place - it’s mostly the amount of time standing and waiting in the middle of a crowd of people who have nothing to do but wait. But the Boeing (and others) stuff makes it real easy for me to stay home and not waste the money/resources.

I value quality time with my two pups more than travel. Taking a train to somewhere remote and beautiful is not off the menu, though. Marginally better than my experiences on a Greyhound.

Totes. Wasn’t trying to argue against ya

Exactly. Not to mention all the exhaust I have to breathe when I bike to work.

It’s weird, but it makes sense as a last ditch effort to bridge a population bottleneck. Just because we haven’t witnessed something doesn’t make it impossible.

Look in the mirror, dawg

This stogie sized covert camera. The photos looked like a screenshot of the game snake.

Gottem!

Heard, but my experience was positive.

Appreciate you looking out.

Dad once told me that money can’t buy happiness, but poverty can buy misery. Whatever that’s worth.

Good job, yo. And thanks. We need to share our fresh, creative ideas.

Simplicity is powerful. I’ve mumbled a few things that turned out to be far more meaningful than I intended.

Not you, though. A Lazer of human consciousness, that’s you!

That’s beautiful

I get that folks are engaged for various reasons, but Wikipedia isn’t at it’s best when it comes to current events. I feel like that battle will slow as time passes.

Still - a big thank you to those who strive to combat misinformation.

*And you make a great point. Make the edits to Trump’s page after the dust settles and there is no argument about the facts.

Absolutely. The divide isn’t going to be solved any time soon.

I respect those who choose the high road, but acting in good faith and expecting reciprocation is what they love to dunk on.

Especially when you get into archaic laws that aren’t enforced or widely known.

Agreed. And props for making a point that isn’t palatable. The first one is complicated. Not many folk I talk to can set aside their revulsion and consider the situation logically. I wish we didn’t have to in the first place.

It’s a beautiful state, politics aside

Short chain oil!? At first I thought you were bs’ing about seasoning a pan with gear oil.

That sent me down a novel rabbit hole. Thanks for your input!

It’s fun stuff, right?? I’ve never been able to conceive why the ultra wealthy would want to let the peasants eventually die off.

Perhaps there are currently more peasants than they require? Was Ritchie Rich just waiting until AI drones became advanced enough to serve them properly?

My limited experience with wealthy folk (prob not even the top 15%) is that they like to feel superior by comparison. Some may be intelligent. Most are educated well even if they lack any aptitude.

My best guess is that they lack wisdom or any semblance of awareness that an aristocracy is stagnant. The things that live on our planet have had to struggle and adapt to survive. At some (small and meek) level, they fuel the forces that would oppose them.

It’s not actually fun stuff. I was joshing. I doubt we get to create the United Federation of Planets in the future. I would be ecstatic if that statement was proven wrong.